Chapter 1

On the very day the wager was made, Victoria Calloway ran into Caden Larkson, who had been drugged. Victoria, who already had intentions of approaching him, unintentionally became his antidote by a fortunate coincidence.

After that night, Victoria seemed to have chipped a crack into Caden's perpetually icy facade.

For three years, they shared an intimate relationship. And with each intimate encounter, Victoria sank a little deeper. She began to believe that Caden, revered like a deity by others, belonged to her.

It wasn't until that night that she realized she was wrong. After their moment of passion in the car, she noticed one of Caden's sapphire cufflinks had fallen off. So, she picked it up, intending to bring it to him.

The door to the private room at the end of the hallway was slightly ajar. Just as she was about to push it open, she heard laughter and conversation from inside.

"Fresh from the arms of your lover, Caden? Victoria's usually such an untamed wildcat, and she has no regard for anyone. But how is it that when she's around you, she's all soft and sweet? It makes me want a woman like her too! Just when are you finally going to marry her and bring her home?"

Victoria halted mid-step, her heart tightening inexplicably. Then, she heard that familiar, chillingly calm voice.

"She's just a bedmate. How can I marry her?"

His words were light and airy, yet each word struck like an ice-forged blade, piercing straight into her heart until it was nothing but a mess of flesh and blood.

An eerie silence fell over the room. Clearly, even his closest friends were stunned by the brutally frank label.

After what felt like an eternity, someone cautiously broke the silence. "S-Surely not, Cade? It's been three years… Do you... Do you still have feelings for your first love?"

First love? Victoria's mind buzzed, going completely blank. Caden… had a first love?

She felt as though her very life had been sucked out of her as she stood numbly outside the door, listening as Caden gave a faint, affirmative hum.

"Back when we broke up, she asked for three years. She said she wanted to try seeing other people, and she wanted me to try seeing other people too. And if we still loved each other after that, we'd get back together.

"She's always been insecure and liked kicking up a fuss, so I just went along with what she wanted. Anyway, it's been three years now, and I've done my share of seeing other people."

He paused, and when he spoke again, there was the faintest trace of something unmistakable—quiet, restrained anticipation. "It's about time she came back."

Victoria felt as if she were struck by lightning. Her entire body went cold, and even her fingertips trembled uncontrollably. Those three years of intimacy, countless moments she thought they truly shared a connection, had been nothing more than his experiment? His way of "trying to see others"?

"Then, what about Victoria? Given her fiery temperament, if she finds out—"

Before the person speaking could finish their sentence, Victoria pushed open the door with a bang.

Everyone in the room was startled, and they all turned toward the door in unison.

Victoria stood there, her face frighteningly pale, a stark contrast to her burning red eyes. She ignored everyone else. Her gaze was locked, unblinking, on the man seated at the head of the table.

Caden sat there in his impeccably tailored suit, posture straight, demeanor composed. Her sudden appearance drew not a flicker of surprise or panic from him. He was just as unshakable and calm as always.

And it was that very composure that felt like the final handful of salt ground into her lacerated heart. Because if he had cared for her even a little, he could never have reacted this way.

She walked up to him, staring at the face she had loved for three years, her voice hoarse. "Caden, don't you have anything to say to me?"

He lifted his eyes, meeting her gaze calmly.

"There's nothing to say. It's exactly what you heard. We were bedmates. I always thought you understood that clearly.

"Pam made a bet with you that if you could win me over, you could pick any luxury car from her garage. Well, if the cars aren't enough…"

He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and drew out a black bank card. He pushed it gently across the coffee table toward her.

"Here's a hundred million dollars. Consider it payment for three years of being available whenever I need you. From now on, we're done."

With that, he stood up to leave.

But the instant he passed by her, Victoria suddenly reached out and seized his wrist in a death grip. Her hand was freezing cold, knuckles white from the force.

Caden halted. Then, he heard Victoria, someone who had always been so proud, use every ounce of her strength to force out each shattered, yet painfully clear word into the silent room.

"But… I love you! I've fallen for you, Caden!"

She didn't even know when exactly she had fallen for him.

Perhaps it was that winter morning when she couldn't be bothered to put on shoes, and he crouched down, his warm palm wrapping around her icy ankle as he gently slipped the slippers onto her feet.

Perhaps it was after her appendicitis surgery, when she woke disoriented with pain, and the first thing she saw was him by her bedside, faint shadows of fatigue under his eyes.

Or perhaps, it was all those late nights when he came back from business dinners, carrying the faint scent of alcohol, but he would still remember her fear of thunder and draw her into his arms.

All those fragments of tiny, ordinary moments had quietly built into a raging tide that drowned her completely. And now, he was telling her, so casually, that she had only ever been a bedmate?

How utterly cruel, Caden!

Just as Caden was about to speak, his phone buzzed. He took it out, and the screen lit up with a new message preview that flashed clearly in Victoria's line of sight.

"It's been three years, Caden. I've tried, but you're still the only one I love. Let's get back together."

In that instant, Victoria felt her entire world collapse.

Caden's gaze lingered on the screen for a few seconds. Then, slowly, deliberately, he pried away her fingers that were clamped around his wrist.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I can't say the same."

With those final words, he turned and walked away without a backward glance.